Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 246,327 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 4,566 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.1% of Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $86,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invariant Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,352,766 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $803,187,000 after purchasing an additional 238,872 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $180,088,000 after purchasing an additional 23,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,884,879 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $984,840,000 after purchasing an additional 60,198 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Daiwa Securities Group raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $386.70.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Visa

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $327.68 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $314.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.98. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $587.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

(Free Report)

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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